What Family Means
by shadowhuntingdauntlessdemigod
Summary: A series of unconnected oneshots about the Winchesters and what they have encountered. Plot summaries inside for each story. Day 7: Everything comes to an end, including the Winchesters, but Dean's not sure what to expect in heaven after his last trip up there that drove a wedge between him and Sam.
1. Chapter 1

**This is going to be a set of one shots spanning a week for Convergence Creation week. Each day had a prompt, and today, it is Beginnings: It's time to start something new and trust in the magic of beginnings.**

 **I took this to mean different beginnings for the Winchesters. It's a different style that I'm used to, but I decided to try it out. Each paragraph roughly represents a season. NOTE: There are spoilers for ALL twelve seasons, although I tried to be vague with names, it's not hard to figure out, so read at your own risk. Thanks for reading and stick around for more!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own Supernatural**

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Most stories only have one beginning. Something starts, it has a middle, it peaks, and then it ends. Beginnings in life, in relationships, in views…none of them tend to come too easily or too often. That wasn't the case with the Winchesters.

Where their story even begins is hard to fathom. One could say it began with the bloodline leading back to Cain and Abel, or the millions of chance moments that let John and Mary meet. One could say it began when John bought the Impala, but he was prompted to do so because his son from the future came and gave him advice on it, which created a whole loop of beginnings in itself.

Officially, the story began with a woman on the ceiling that was set ablaze and changed the lives of her family forever. Even that story has its own set of beginnings, but we're sticking to the brothers. Their life of hunting began that night, and through the breaks and twists and turns, it never fully ended.

Sam's new life began when he left for Stanford, leaving his father and brother behind in the dust. He made something of it. But that life too was shed upon the new knowledge that Dad hadn't been home in a few days from a hunting trip. That new, picturesque life ended fully the same way his hunting life had begun, which someone he cared about on the ceiling.

Both Sam and Dean's lives seemed to start over when John died. It was truly just the two of them against the world, and that was that. New beginnings and endings followed deaths for the Winchesters. Sam's death led him to new life, but at the cost of Dean's new life all leading up to going to hell.

Sam has to adjust to a new life without Dean, and when he got back from hell, Dean had to adjust to life with the memories. What they knew also suffered a new beginning when Castiel claimed to be an angel, beings that had never existed to the brothers before. A new chapter was written in the Winchester gospel, a new beginning in their relationship, which nearly signaled the end on many occasions. The rift between the brothers grew, as did the demon blood and Lillith's influence until both were no longer. When that was done, it was time for a new beginning: the beginning of the end.

The apocalypse brought the beginning of the two true vessels and the promise that one brother wouldn't make it out alive. Through it all, some of the rifts were bridged over until the portal in the earth opened and swallowed Sam, Lucifer, Michael, and Adam all along with it. The apocalypse was averted, but at the cost of something Dean didn't want to think about.

Dean's new beginning lasted an entire year as he tried to fulfill the promise that he had made to Sam. He began again, got a new job, got a new car, got two new people that he found love and hope in, but he never truly found a new family because nothing could replace what he had lost. Even when Sam got back, it took months for him to really be _back_ and their relationship could begin again. Once again, Dean's new beginning ended, this time in the form of lost memories in order to keep the people he cared about safe.

Ups and downs followed the Winchesters, as they began a life filled with Leviathans and ooze and a prophet and no angel on their shoulders. Sam was forced to begin a life without the wall in his head to protect him from, well, everything. The hardest new beginning of that year came when they had to adjust to life without their prominent father figure. In truth, neither one really adjusted. Dean turned to booze and revenge while Sam turned to research. It all stopped with a bone, some blood, an explosion, a missing angel, and a missing Dean.

Much like his brother before him, Sam's hunting life stopped and his 'normal' life began after everyone he knew and cared about was gone. Of course, Dean was beginning his new life in the new world filled with new problems but old creatures. Eventually they did manage to get back together, but an unfamiliar face that belonged to none other than a monster to Sam kept driving them apart. Their mission, although they disagreed on who should take the burden, became unified once again as the trials were completed one by one. They could see a new beginning in a world without demons…but it didn't come to pass. Because Dean couldn't see a new beginning in a world without Sam. At the end of the day, the beginning faded because the brothers chose each other, as they always did.

And because they chose each other, Dean made a choice for Sam that drove them further apart. The angels had to begin their lives without their wings, and because of an angel, the brothers had to begin their lives without their extended family member and prophet by their side. Eventually, Dean's new beginning came in the form of a mark to end a demon. That's all it was, a means to an end with no other choice. The mark turned into something more for Dean when Sam carried his body into his room and lay him down, only for Dean to wake up, his green eyes clouded with black.

Beginning a new life as a demon was easy for Dean, and as expected, not so much for Sam. Eventually the blackness was cured and they went along, killing and saving as they always did. But, as the mark exhibited more control over Dean and they lost yet another extended family member, a deal for a new beginning had to be made. They had to push the 'restart' button and the only way for that to be done was for one of them to die. The 'restart' only ended up starting another beginning of the end for the world, and an end for the being once known as Death.

The Darkness began with Dean and the mark, but eventually it ended with God and the promise of something better. The road there was paved with monsters, as it always was, some bigger and badder than others. There was an unlikely alliance between a reaper, God, a witch, the king of hell, one ex-blood junkie, a high school dropout with six bucks to his name, an angel, and at one point even Lucifer himself. But, like everything, all great beginnings came to an end, but this one led to a new beginning.

A woman in a white nightgown opened the way for old memories to resurface and new beginnings with family to come into place. At the same time, adjustments had to be made for a new, overseas threat that over time tore the family apart. The new beginning provided to them soon turned into what they had always known, the two of them against the world. Sam was faced with a new beginning as he looked at Dean and Dean looked back, not remembering who his brother was. They thought about new ways to work with hunters, and found new ways of getting their family back. In the end, however, their story ended as it always did: with death and pain and loss.

Just a few short hours before, their family was complete. Now, it took Dean two hands to count how many people they had lost in one day.

And still, they began again. Because there was no getting off the 'saving the world wheel'. There was no hanging up the job that they had been destined to do. At the end of the day, it came down to the Winchesters, to Sam and Dean, and to the decisions they made together.

So they'd pick up where they had so many times: solving the case and finding out how to return what had been lost that day. They could always begin again, but it was much easier to do when they had each other to lean on.


	2. We'll Fix It

**Day 2 Prompt: Loss-** _ **I keep myself busy with things to do, but every time I pause, I still think of you.**_

 **Spoilers for the season 12 finale ahead**

 **And I still don't own Supernatural**

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By the time the sun was barely cresting over the horizon, signaling the physical end of the worst night in a while, Sam and Dean were back in the Impala, sitting there silently. The situation itself seemed normal: blankets in the back seat from watching the sun rise, no music in order to enjoy the scene fully, an older brother in the driver's seat, and a younger brother sitting shotgun. It all seemed…normal…to the untrained eye anyways.

But, life was always harsher when looked at through a realistic lens. Upon further inspection, there was a body beneath the blankets. There wasn't any music playing because no song could fix…anything. The car wasn't in motion, not because they were watching the sunrise, but because for the first time in a long time, they weren't sure what to do.

They had buried Kelly in the yard behind the house, with no further way to follow the nephilim, Jack, after he had gone out the window and vanished into the forest. They'd find him sooner or later, but it wasn't their top priority, surprisingly.

It only took one look between the two of them to know that they couldn't leave Cas they same way they had left Kelly…he simply meant too much. He deserved more. So they took some blankets and carefully carried him back to the Impala, and Team Free Will was together again.

They had been sitting in silence ever since, the creak of the doors nearly an hour before being the last thing they had heard. Each of them was dealing or…not dealing, just as well as the other. How could one deal with that much?

Eventually, Dean turned on the Impala, simply to fill some of the silence and give himself something to focus on. The second the headlights came on, illuminating the dirt behind the house, a pair of charred, broken wings on the surface came into view. Dean's eyes fixed on them and his hand trembled on the keys, wanting to take them out, wanting to imagine that the charred landscape didn't exist.

Sam quickly pulled out the keys for him, the sight not doing anything for him either. The engine shut off, and the wings were once again enclosed by darkness. It was another minute before there was a sound.

"We were so close," Dean whispered, eyes still staring out at the space where the wings had disappeared. Sam looked at him, a bit questioningly. "We almost had it all. We had mom, we had a plan to jam the devil back…somewhere, we were getting Cas-" he cut himself off and shook his head.

"We'll get them back," Sam tried, his voice matching Dean's in loudness and hope, in that it was absent of both. "We always do."

Dean didn't nod, or shake his head, he just rested his hands on his knees. "Just for once, one damn time, I wish we wouldn't have to, you know?" He didn't have to look at Sam to know that he was nodding his head. "Just one time, we'd be able to keep something and not have to scratch and claw to get it back."

Because there was hardly ever the option of letting go. When it came to family, leaving them behind wasn't exactly written in the instruction manual.

"Stupid, but it's true," Dean added, his voice even quieter if that was possible.

Sam turned to his brother, seeing his eyes downcast and shoulders sagged a bit against the dark leather. "It's not stupid, Dean, it's human. We're dealt…crappy hands over and over again and we don't get a break, we have to make them," he ran a hand along his face. "But we'll fix this, like we always do."

 _Until the universe decides to rip it away from us again_ was left unsaid.

Usually it was Dean giving the 'we'll get through this' pep talk, but Sam wasn't surprised that he was taking it a bit harder. Mom and Cas, within minutes, no, seconds of each other, both gone. "How?" The question, the doubt, reverberated through the metal walls, bouncing off the sheets in the back until it made its way to Sam's ears.

"Like we always do." It was the simple, the go-to answer. The longer answer was that they'd research and drink and not sleep nearly enough until they'd called every single contact in the book and researched every spell. Hell, there wasn't even Crowley or Rowena to go to anymore for some extra assistance. If Sam were to count all the dead over the past two days, he was almost certain he'd run out of fingers.

"Yeah…" Dean trailed off, and nodded in the slightest. Because even when beaten and bloodied and broken, there was always fight left in Dean Winchester. He cast the smallest glance towards the backseat, and back to the outside where the wings were and the rift had been. "We'll fix it," he echoed. There wasn't belief in his words, but there was a tinge more fire in his eyes.

"Damn right," came the simple response from Sam. It took another minute, but then the Impala was on and the headlights were blaring, bright as ever against those awful marks in the ground. The car still didn't move, Dean's eyes on the spot. "Dean?" he prompted.

"Get some sleep. I'll drive for a little while, find a diner," Dean replied, snapping back to himself and reversing away from the house.

In Dean speak, a few hours meant nearly all day, or back to the Bunker if they could. Because he wouldn't be sleeping anyways. He wouldn't be eating much, or doing much else of anything. But he could drive down those dirt roads and let his mind wander. He could make sure that Sam got sleep and food, because he sure as hell wasn't losing someone else.

"We'll fix it," he whispered again, by which time the sun was directly overhead and miles, he wasn't sure how many, had been eaten up by the Impala.

There was still a body in the backseat and a now sleeping brother sitting shotgun, but Dean turned the music on ever so slightly as to not wake Sam, and forced himself to focus on the lyrics. Mentally singing along to a song, of course, was much easier than thinking about how they'd fix it…of what would happen if they didn't.


	3. Thirteen Seasons?

**The prompt for Day 3 is: Alternatives-** _ **in an indefinite multiverse, there is no such thing as fiction.**_ **So yeah, prepare for a bit of a meta chapter, and not as much angst for once.**

 **I don't own Supernatural, again. All pictures described belong to their respective owners and camera holders.**

* * *

In all honesty, Dean _had_ been working. It wasn't like he was intentionally searching for weird stuff…weirder than they normally dealt with anyways. He had basically typed in 'supernatural cases' to laugh at what came up and have fingers crossed that he wouldn't have to do an advanced search in order to find something.

What he did find, however, had him laughing and shaking his head. "Heya Sammy!" he called from the library, hoping his brother was still in his room, doing research. "You've gotta check this out!"

"Found a case?" came the other voice and some rustling as he stood up.

"Much better than a case," Dean replied, a type of glint in his eye.

Sam eventually walked into the library and rolled his eyes as he pulled up a chair next to his brother. "We're supposed to be working. Please don't show me some…porno discount coupon or something."

"Okay, first, I was working, second, coupons help, and third, I'm surprised that you have that low of an opinion of me," Dean shot back, but there was still a smirk on his face as he turned the computer Sam's way. He watched, interested and happy and a bit confused as Sam read it.

"How…how did we even get this article? I mean, Balthazar zapped us to that alternate reality, does it even exist?" Sam asked, looking between Dean and the screen.

The older man raised his hands and shrugged. "No idea. But they started shooting their thirteenth season today. Freaking thirteen years they've been playing us. Poor bastards," Dean muttered, clicking on the pictures that were linked to the article.

"That's crazy. I mean, most shows don't even last that long to begin with, but one with us and…what are you doing?"

Dean held up the laptop next to his face. The screen showed a picture of the actor that played him, sunglasses, beard, caption and all, headed back to work. "If he can pull one off, I think I could manage. Huh? Bearded Dean Winchester," he pitched, grinning before he set the laptop down.

"Yeah…no," Sam shook his head, smirking at his brother's idea.

"What? Not like a monster can grab my beard and not grab your flowing locks," Dean went to make a mess of Sam's hair and was batted away.

"Dude, it's fine."

"Sam, you could literally put it in a ponytail if you tried hard enough."

"I could not, first off, second-" Sam was cut off as Dean flipped him another picture, one of the actor that played him, with his hair in…was that two ponytails?

"Second…?" Dean prompted, enjoying it way too much.

"Just…find us a case." Sam stood up and clapped Dean on the shoulder, smirking to himself, still wondering how the hell the article got there in the first place. Alternate universes didn't usually…cross over.

"Yeah yeah, you're welcome!" Dean shouted after him, getting a wave before his brother disappeared down the hallway. Dean grinned, flipping through a few more photos that the site provided before going back a page. "Happy thirteen, fellas," he said quietly. Alternate universe or not, it was an accomplishment.

Finding a case in itself would be an accomplishment too, but Dean could continue smirking at the image of Sam in a ponytail for a few more minutes before getting back to work.


	4. Remember When?

**This is a few days late, sorry! Day 4: Memories-** _ **Remembering the past gives power to the present.**_ **These are more just short drabble things, hope you guys enjoy! Some spoilers, but they're mild.**

 **Still don't own SPN.**

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Remembering for the Winchesters started as a game. As they got older, however, it served as more of a…reminder, for lack of a better word, for anything and everything. More often than not, it was a reminder that the two of them were together and alright. But it didn't always start out that way.

It started as a game Sam started as soon as he could talk, simply because he liked seeing Dean smile afterwards. The older boy never got annoyed, he could just keep answering, no matter how stupid the question was.

"Remember when we got ice cream?" Sam asked one day when they were walking back to the motel.

"Course I do, Sam," Dean replied simply, his free hand slung over his brother's shoulder.

"Oh. How?" It was a simple question, but Dean smiled all the same.

"Because," he started, and then stopped, pulling out a napkin, "my mind lets me. And yours is dripping all over your hand again. You have to eat it faster," he wiped the sticky liquid off Sam's hand.

"But it's cold!" Sam protested with a grin.

"Yeah, and it's hot outside, which is why we got it," Dean chucked the napkin into a nearby trash can and they kept walking.

"Remember when you had ice cream for the first time?"

"I got the biggest brain freeze," Dean laughed and shook his head.

Of course, they lapsed into silence but it was only a few moments before the questions started up again, Dean answering them the same as before.

* * *

"Remember when life was normal?" Sam asked one day, completely unprovoked. They were sitting across the motel room from each other, looking up information on a random case, like they always did. Jess had been dead for two months, not like anyone was counting.

"What, is hunting monsters not normal?" Dean answered, quirking an eyebrow up at his brother.

He half expected an eye roll or a bitch-face, but got neither. Sam was being serious for a change, the type of sincerity that never used to come from that sort of question.

"Bits and pieces," he added simply after a moment. Dean didn't go into detail and Sam didn't ask, they just…disappeared back into their work again.

Because bits and pieces were more than Sam would ever have.

* * *

For once, Dean was pining to ask the question that had been so long laid dormant between the two of them. _Remember when?_ hasn't been uttered in what feels like years, but that's what fighting and an apocalypse will do to you. The question was on the tip of his tongue: _Remember when we set off fireworks for the fourth of July and almost burned down that field?_

He thought it a few times through the day, but each time and each passing moment led him away from the question. Dean ends up not asking.

It becomes clear that Sam remembers the times he spent on his own than those he spent with his brother, and it stings.

So, the question goes unanswered and unasked, and the day ends with the amulet in the trash and an emotional dagger in Dean's chest.

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"Remember the first time I took you driving? I was so terrified you'd bust the Impala and dad would never forgive you. Hell, you did nearly drive it off the side of the road, so my fears weren't completely irrational."

"Remember when you read your first book three grades above your level? Man, the only person prouder of you was me. And it was a long book too, with big words. For a little third grader, you did your best to put me to shame."

"Remember the first time you thought angels could actually be real? Father Gregory and all that? I didn't believe, but you wanted to, so badly, and I just didn't want you to be let down with false hope."

"Remember when we thought we could have normal lives? Now, apocalypses and angels falling and the whole world in the toilet…" Dean gently squeezed his brother's hand, not wanting to disrupt any of the medical equipment.

But his sasquatch of a brother looked so small and weak in the bed, and if Dean could kick the trials in the face he would. But he was…powerless, and told to think about faith and angels and God helping them out. It wasn't a confidence booster, not by a long shot.

"Sammy?" It was quiet and desperate, and the irrational part of Dean hoped that a single word would make his brother's eyes open and the world could go back to their version of normal. "I need you to remember, man? Okay? Please."

* * *

"Remember the fourth of July fireworks?"

The question caught Dean off guard, more than the previous twenty-two had. Sure, they were spaced out over the past two hours, but Dean had been keeping count. They were three hours out from that awful city and he was about fifteen hours into having his memories restored.

His head still hurt, but he remembered how to drive (which had been the first question Sam had asked before they had left), and was taking the opportunity.

"Sam, I promise, I'm fine. Memories intact, past and monsters and all," Dean said, casting his brother a glance. Sam was still staring at him, as if one moment he'd remember everything and the next, there would be nothing.

"Right, right, sorry, just…yeah," Sam excused quickly, running a hand through his hair before looking out the window.

It was the question Dean had wanted to ask all those years ago, but had never gotten to, or back to. But of course Sam remembered, he doubted it was a thing the kid was likely to forget.

"Course I do, Sammy," he said, a small smirk on his face as he said it and Sam turned back around. "Remember how scared we were that Dad was gonna find out we nearly burned down an entire field because I found illegal fireworks?"

There was a look of relief on Sam's face that Dean had seldom seem, and for a moment, things were alright again.

"You were so scared," Dean chuckled and shook his head.

"Well, yeah! The rocket fell over and shot off and everything! And hey, you were freaked out too!" Sam shot back, a smile stuck to his features.

"You were just worried your long hair would go up."

"It was not that long!"

"Sam, it's always been long! This is just crazy long!"

"Whatever," Sam rolled his eyes, but there was no true annoyance behind them. Just that same sense of relief.

If there was one thing they could agree on, it was that remembering and bantering always ate up miles on the road like nothing else could.


	5. Pain vs Joy

**Took a bit of a different approach to this, hope you guys like it! And also a few days late ;) Day 5: Pain-** _ **Find a place inside where there's joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.**_

 **Still don't own Supernatural**

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It was no secret that the Winchester's lives were filled with more pain than the normal person's. They had lost everything time and time again, including each other and every member of their family, blood and not. It was a thought that Sam often tried to not focus on, but it was hard not to at times.

And at other times, there were things to distract himself with. He could get lost in a job, and helping and saving people in turn helped him. Because when they saved a person, it made their sacrifices and everyone else's worth it. It was an affirmation that all their scratching and clawing to stay on the earth had something good come of it.

And at the even rarer times, there were the moments where some small amounts of hope and happiness could…burn away the pain, even if only for a few moments.

As the years passed, there was less time for outings and games like they used to squeeze in, so Sam learned to appreciate the simpler things that made both him and his brother happy.

Like how they'd fly down the deserted highways, windows down and rock music blaring (though Sam still got annoyed, it was worth it to see the smile on Dean's face…not so much to hear his singing), Dean pushing the Impala as far as it would go. Sam was sure he'd still have some hearing loss later in the day, but just them, their car, their music, and nothing else was something Sam had come to appreciate.

Like the Bunker. It took some time to get used to, they had never really had a place to put roots down for…well, forever. And seeing Dean make up his room with his memory foam mattress of all things brought a smile to Sam's face.

Like Dean's cooking. Because apparently he could cook, and pretty decently too. Sure, it wasn't much above burgers and other general things, and Sam always teased him about getting an apron and a hat with flowers on it, but it brought them both into the kitchen for some much needed downtime.

Like movie nights. They had less than they had before, but the Bunker and Netflix made it a bit easier. Sam would get it set up and Dean would make popcorn, and they'd settle into Sam's room. If Sam had picked the movie, one that Dean didn't like (or he did and he just wanted to be a typical brother), he would randomly toss pieces of popcorn Sam's way, intentionally making a mess. But they were in the same room, enjoying something together, which was the best way to spend the night after a long day.

Like a day off. While they came once in a blue moon and they decided to forego research for the day, days off were one of Sam's favorite times. Sometimes they went to a fair that wasn't too far out of their way, or stopped off to see Jody or Garth. They would just take a day to themselves, but always together, and it didn't really matter what they did.

Like sitting against the Impala looking at the stars. It had become an unofficial tradition between the two of them that when the world wasn't crumbling, one of them wasn't injured, and the skies were clear, they'd drive a few miles to an open field in the middle of Nowhere, Kansas. Dean wouldn't play any music, and he wouldn't comment on the lack of it. Often, there was only the crack of beers being opened and nothing else as they watched the stars take shape and spin in the dark sky.

The stars served as a reminder that they still existed and mattered. Sam would look across to Dean and grin, and instead of berating him for smiling like an idiot, Dean would return the gesture and tilt his head upwards once again.

Because sure, the job got heavy and their life sucked and was filled with pain and hurt and loss and grief and darkness…but inside that darkness were little moments of hope and light, just like the stars that dotted the sky above them.


	6. Potholes and Apologies

**This is way late, so apologies are in order. And it's a happy chapter before the somewhat angsty Day 7 ;) as always, thanks for reading! Day 6: Found-** _ **Mistakes are the portals to discovery.**_

 **Still don't own Supernatural**

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"Look, before you say anything, I just want you to know right off the bat, I'm sorry."

That one sentence and the ending word had Dean immediately up off the motel bed, crossing the room to get to Sam, who was standing in the open doorway. "The hell did you do?" he asked. His brother seemed alright, if not a little scared and guilty, but that was it.

"I know, you told me to be careful, and I got the sandwiches fine and…" Sam trailed off.

Dean moved his hand in an impatient 'tell me more' motion.

"And I kinda sorta missed missing the pothole in the motel parking lot. The car's stuck."

"But she's okay, right?" was Dean's immediate first question.

Sam would have rolled his eyes had he not been in fear of his older brother's profound love for the car. "Yeah, yeah, the tire's just stuck, I swear," he answered quickly.

Dean rolled his eyes and sighed before pulling his jacket off the hanger behind the door. "Let's go survey the damage," he muttered, and stepped outside the motel behind Sam.

The entire way over to wherever Sam had left the car, the kid wouldn't stop nervously fidgeting with…something and looking at Dean with some trace of fear in his eyes.

"Dude," Dean stopped before they turned the corner to get to the car, "I'm not gonna bite your head off, chill."

Sam stopped alongside him and looked back, a bit confused. "You're not…mad?"

"Oh no, I'm mad. You messed with my baby, so you messed with me," Dean shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "But you're only seventeen, and I sent you to go get sandwiches so I could clean the guns, my fault. Everyone gets cars stuck in a pothole in their life."

"Even you?" Sam asked, a hint of amusement in his tone.

"Never said I did or have or will," Dean quickly corrected, although the glint in his eyes told otherwise. "This was a team effort," he added, a bit begrudgingly. They started walking around again and in the empty area around the corner of the motel, the Impala sat with one front tire in the pothole, turned to try and avoid it too late.

"Plus," he clapped a hand on Sam's shoulder, "you're getting it out, I'm just instructing. It's a teachable moment, you know."

"Yeah, yeah," Sam replied, rolling his eyes a bit at Dean's smugness. He knew it really came from getting to teach Sam something, but didn't mention it.

"And plus, now you'll know how to not do it again, I hope?" It was phrased more like a statement than a question, and with the raised eyebrow to go along.

Sam nodded quickly and walked over to the car, reaching into the backseat to pull out Dean's sandwich before tossing it to him.

"Lunch and a show, this'll be fun," Dean commented, a sideways grin on his face. He unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite, meanwhile pointing to what Sam needed to do to get the car unstuck without hurting it any more.

There was a bit of laughing on Dean's part as Sam fidgeted to get the tire out, and more than a few "be careful!"s that were uttered in the process.

At the end of the day, the Impala was fine, and so were the sandwiches.


	7. Heaven, Blood, and an Old Motel Room

**Final chapter, only a week or so late *whoops*. Thanks to everyone for reading and thanks to the awesome forum for these prompts! Reviews, as always, are greatly appreciated :) On with the show! Day 7: Endings-** _ **Ends are not bad and many ends aren't really an ending; some things are never-ending.**_

 **Still don't own Supernatural.**

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They knew the ending would come sooner or later. It always did for hunters, and just plain people in general. It didn't end with a bang, or in a blaze of glory. It ended in an isolated forest five miles outside of the nearest town. It ended with two bloodied brothers leaning up against a muscle car as black as their surroundings and darker than the starry night sky.

Dean had always hated werewolf cases. He began hating them more after he almost lost Sam to Corbin a few years back. But people were still dying because of them, so the brothers still went out to do what they seemed to do best.

By the time they got into town, there were three missing people in the woods. It didn't take them long to track down the werewolf, which turned out to be a small pack of three, all with sharp claws and knives.

Things took a turn for the worse when Sam took a blade in the gut and Dean one in the right shoulder. Things went downhill from there, quite literally, when all five of them tumbled down a hill. But the night still ended in Sam and Dean's favor, with the three monsters dead far away from the town, which was sleeping soundly.

"You good?" Dean breathed out through a wince, caused by multiple broken ribs from the wonderful fall, one hand on Sam's abdomen and the other arm around his shoulders as he lowered him down to the Impala. It had taken half an hour to get back, and Dean was in no better shape than his brother, but he could walk…sort of. It hurt to walk with gashed legs, but he hadn't lost quite as much blood as Sam.

"Peachy," Sam replied quietly and hissed as Dean set him down against the cool metal before collapsing next to him. In truth, the pressure was doing nothing to keep the blood where it belonged, and there was no way Dean could drive them back to town with his beaten legs. How he had been able to walk was a miracle. Sam figured it was a last ditch effort to get the family together one more time, the two of them and Baby, because Dean was not leaving her in the forest by herself for…who knew how long. "You?" he eventually bit out, his hands losing purchase on the slippery, shredded shirt.

It took Dean a few moments to reply, gingerly stretching out his legs in front of him. Had there been sunlight, the ground beneath them would have steadily been turning red. "Aces," Dean whispered back, and leaned his head back against the car.

For the next few minutes it was quiet, save for the labored breathing on both their parts. The rest of the forest was quiet and dark, the stars and galaxies burning brightly where the trees weren't stood up quite so high.

"Sorry, Sammy," eventually broke through the silence.

Sam lolled his head over, sure that picking it up and turning would result in a wave of dizziness that would have him passing out. "F'r what?" he slurred a bit, the blood loss and ambiguity of the apology not making any sense.

"No blaze of glory like I promised," Dean tried for a joke and quirked a small smile at his brother before patting him once on the shoulder.

" 's okay," Sam shook his head. "Picked a nice spot though."

And it was. For a life filled with insanity, it was a peaceful resting spot.

"Hm," Dean hummed in agreement, and nodded before he closed his eyes and sighed. "Bitch."

It was a simple word, but it took a few minutes for Sam to reply. When he did, it was no more than a whisper of "jerk", but it still had Dean smiling through it all.

Because of course their last words to each other would be the Winchester way of saying 'love you' without saying it at all.

When Sam slackened against him, head hitting his shoulder, Dean took that as his queue that it was alright to go too. He leaned back against the car a little bit more in a silent 'thank you' and listened to the slight wind in the trees until there wasn't anything else to listen to.

* * *

When the fireworks started, Dean wasn't sure he wanted to be there. His last stop in heaven hadn't exactly been a nice trip, with Sam's greatest memories being some of his worst. But still, it was nice to relive the fireworks again and not have giant gashes on his legs. It was nice to be nearly a decade younger and not quite as weighed down. It wasn't quite so nice being, well, dead again, but Dean supposed it could be a bit worse, and eventually left the field when the fireworks ran out.

Even in heaven, his baby still looked as good as ever, although this time there was no Cas over the radio to tell him where to go. So instead, Dean turned on the radio low, which surprisingly worked just a bit for music, and started driving down the road.

One minute it was trees, and the next he was pulling into a motel parking lot. Dean checked what he remembered from his last time in heaven, and that didn't match up, so he got out, pocketed the keys, and went inside. There, he was met with a hallway and several doors on each side, one at the end. It was all…familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on why.

But something dragged him to the door at the end of the hall, and he knew better than to ignore a gut instinct, especially there. Dean stopped at the door, steeling himself for something, when he felt a familiar weight against his chest, one that he hadn't felt in years. Looking down, he saw that the amulet had appeared over his neck and was resting comfortable against his sternum, where it belonged.

He looked at it quizzically for another moment before he knocked twice on the door. It only took a moment, but the door opened, and there he was, looking a decade younger himself.

Sam stood there in a grey t-shirt, also looking about a decade younger, and stared at Dean for a moment before wrapping him in a hug, which Dean returned, adding a few pats on the back. Sam eventually dragged him inside and closed the door, leaving the two of them standing in some random hotel room, in Sam's heaven.

"How are you…here?" Dean eventually asked. Their heavens were very different, that had been shown earlier, unless something had drastically changed since their last vacation upstairs.

"Dead or in heaven?" Sam replied, a small smirk on his face. "Pretty sure we share a heaven, Dean." It was spoken so simply, and with such belief that it took Dean aback.

"Like…soulmates? But what about Zachariah? You and Bones and Stanford?" Dean prompted again, to which Sam shook his head.

"You really think my heaven would be made up of memories not including you?" he asked, looking a bit hurt at the thought.

"I mean, last time…" Last time every single memory hadn't included Dean in it. Sure, it was happy for Sam, becoming his own man and all, but it didn't reflect every aspect of him.

"Zachariah was messing with us. Like he always did. Dean, heaven couldn't keep us apart in life, or in death no matter how hard it tried. Better to just stick us together," Sam explained before a look of doubt crossed his face. "Why? Your heaven not have us together?"

Now it was Dean's turn to shake his head. "No, no, same as last time. July 4, 1996."

"When we almost burned down that field," Sam finished immediately with a knowing smile. "Was in mine too," he added quietly as an afterthought. "You really thought, after everything we've been through, that we'd be stuck apart for the rest of eternity?"

The question was posed with such innocence and half begging that of course Dean wouldn't think that. The elder Winchester eventually shook his head. "If I have to spend eternity with anyone," he smiled, just…relieved that heaven wasn't what he thought it was going to be. Because sure, reliving the good days was great and all, but that the end of the day they were just memories. Sam was a person, one that he could share it all with.

The smile that broke across Sam's face made it all worth it. Dean mirrored the action before he looked around the room a bit more closely. "So…why's this random motel room so special? You have a thing for glass panes on the ceiling?"

Sam looked down at Dean's amulet and back up to his brother's eyes. "It's the uh, the first time I saw you…when you got back from hell."

It took a moment for it to click, without Ruby and Bobby there and the cellphone tracking that had led him to the motel, but then it all made sense. One of his brother's most cherished memories took place in a dingy motel room, simply because Dean had been there too for the first time in months.

"You always were the sappy one," Dean commented, the smile softening on his face. There was only love and relief in the tone that he used.

"You are the one that taught me to love chick flicks," Sam replied in the same tone.

Dean chuckled and shook his head and waited not a second longer to wrap Sam in a hug, which the younger man returned just as tightly. "You good?"

Sam nodded into his brother's shoulder. "I am, Dean. Really, good," he assured.

Dean simply nodded back. If Sam was good, well, that was pretty much the only thing he had ever wanted. If his little brother was good spending an eternity in heaven with him, then Dean was good with it too. He was great with it, in fact.

So they kept holding onto each other in that remnant of a memory that meant so much to both of them. But this time, it didn't symbolize the demon blood, the apocalypse, and the lying to follow.

It only symbolized the end, but also the beginning. Because sure, they were done on earth, but they were just getting started in heaven. And as long as they were together and at peace with their decisions, that was all either one of them really needed.


End file.
